


Perfect Presents and Programmable Pets

by Skyler10



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Dogs, F/M, Fluff, Pete's World, Pets, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-28
Updated: 2015-11-28
Packaged: 2018-05-03 18:09:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5301575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyler10/pseuds/Skyler10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tentoo has made Rose the best present ever for Christmas this year and in doing so, brings back a new version of an old friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perfect Presents and Programmable Pets

**Author's Note:**

> The only explanation for this silly little fluffer is that it is holiday/pets week for Tentoo x Rose month.

It was going to be the perfect present.

He hoped.

_Oh god, please let her like it._

It was their first Christmas as a married couple, and he felt 300 years old again, all shy and nervous. He imagined his bride blushing as pink as her name while she unwrapped his gift under his adoring gaze. She’d tear off the bow like always and try to put it on his head, which he would successfully avoid with his remaining Time Lord reflexes. He’d steal the bow when she least expected it and plop it right on her beautiful blonde hair. She’d leave it there, smiling that way that lights up the universe.

“Ow!” He sucked his stinging finger into his mouth. No more daydreaming while heat-sonicking. This new invention of his was turning out to be a more painful tool than his previous sonic.

A few more tweaks, and the gift was done. He grinned as he surveyed the finished project. It really was the perfect solution to a seemingly impossible problem.

Rose had been volunteering at the local humane pet shelter as a result of wanting to be more personally involved with the charities she supported with her familial wealth. The Doctor had foreseen there would be very furry domestic consequences of this, knowing Rose, but Jackie wanted her interested in some non-Torchwood-related activities, so it was a lost fight before it began. He had known those two for quite a while now and was smarter than to discourage his wife when she had her mind made up and her mum’s support.

But, exactly as he predicted, this volunteer work had led to her swooning over puppies every day that she donated her time, dragging him along with her. She always had a bit of a teasing glint in her eye when she cooed her love to the roly-poly baby animals in front of him. He couldn’t help but feel it had something to do with that time in 2012 when he thought she was flirting, and she was really sweet-talking a cat. Luckily, she knew his distaste for felines and had not displayed affection for anything but good ol’ dogs.

Now that was a species you could rely on to not turn evil. All throughout the galaxy, humans brought their loyal canine companions. Man’s best friend indeed. He wouldn’t mind having a dog, honestly. Sure, it was another point in the “domestic” column, but he was already a married man living in a house (well, a rather large upscale flat) and working a (rather unusual, but still steady) job, stuck on this earth for a few more years yet until he could get the coral to develop into a functional TARDIS. He even heard pets could be good practice for… well, other small new family members that needed lots of time and attention. A dog could be a sign of preparation for the future. A wise investment in their family life.

There was one problem, however, of which both he and Rose were well aware.

Pete and Tony were allergic to dogs.

It wasn’t such a big deal for Pete, who didn’t spend all that much time at Rose and the Doctor’s flat and had previously tolerated his late wife’s Rose-the-Yorkie with the help of antihistamines. But Tony’s allergies were worse, and he spent plenty of nights sleeping over when Jackie accompanied Pete on Vitex business trips. It was a happy arrangement, but one that depended on Rose and the Doctor keeping a pet-dander-free home.

Though Rose dearly loved her brother’s visits, the Doctor could see there was a serious longing in her eyes behind the joking about how the shelter made her want to adopt all the poor pups with no home. He wondered, however, if it was also about a very Rose-like need, an instinct within her, her compassionate heart wanting something to care for and nurture.

After less than a year of marriage, they both knew they weren’t ready for a tiny human to enter their lives quite yet, but a furry friend might do just the trick.

Which had all led him here, to his workshop, every night after she was sound asleep. Luckily, he needed less rest than she did, so he had plenty of time to whittle away at his creation. To be honest, it was a present for them both. Ever since running into Sarah Jane and leaving her with a new model, he’d been missing his old pet.

So here in front of him was a brand new K-9, but a version so unlike the previous iterations, it was hard to think of them as the same basic machine. But it was, on the inside at least. On the outside, however, he had made significant enhancements. Ones he would never have dreamed of without Rose as his muse and intended recipient.

This robotic dog was not covered in metal, but in soft, huggable fur. It looked like a real dog. It felt like a real dog. It moved like a real dog. It even weighed as much as a real dog, thanks to the hardware inside.

But it was significantly better than a real dog. It wouldn’t make messes (at least, of the biological nature). It had a manual “sleep” setting. And, best of all, it was hypoallergenic. Rose could have her desired pet without losing quality time with her brother.

Yeah, if anything was going to win him New Husband of the Year, this had to be it.

He fiddled with a setting on the sonic, then pointed it at the dog. It let out a series of very real-sounding barks.

“Shh! Shh shh.”

In a slight panic, he shushed the robot with a reverse flick of the sonic. If Rose woke, that would be the end of the surprise and the ruin of the perfect Christmas morning he had been imagining from the planning stages. No, best box up this puppy and smuggle him to work where she wouldn’t stumble across it accidentally or hear it bark and growl as he tested it.

He made sure he left no visible trace of his work behind as he cleaned up the guest-bedroom-turned-workshop. He flipped off the lights and snuck down the hall, back into bed with his wife.

She hummed and turned into him in her sleep as he settled in beside her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pressed a feather-light kiss to her forehead. She stirred, but didn’t open her eyes.

“Did the neighbor’s dog wake you up too?” she slurred, still half-asleep.

“Hmm?” He held his breath. Maybe she wouldn’t remember in the morning that none of their neighbors had pets.

“The barking. Must’a been a dream.”

“Yeah, makes sense. You were around them all day, you know.”

“Mm. I like dogs.”

“I know, love. Go back to sleep.”

His last sentence was unnecessary, however, as she had already snuggled into his side and fallen back into dreamland.

He counted down the days and minutes and milliseconds until Christmas morning and found far too many for his liking. He knew once she opened that box, it was going to be worth every long night and every burnt finger and every programming flaw he had to work through. He would endure so much more than that to give her anything her heart desired. His love for this wonderful human woman was embedded in every cell of his existence and if he could use his big Time Lord brain to make her happy, nothing as petty as family allergies could stop him. Pride in his own simultaneous conquering of both pet ownership and marriage lulled him into a self-satisfied slumber, and he drifted off as the most content man in all the universe.

 


End file.
